sensory landscape:

re-examining verbal language and the power of art in communication

outdoor installation exhibition curated by Birney Robert, featuring the works by Peter Bahouth, Scott Houston, Stephanie Johnson, Arianna Khmelniuk, Stephanie Koziej, Becky Shanks, Bjørn Venø, Blake Weeks

May 19, 2019 | 6 - 9 p.m. | Midtown, Atlanta

abstract

At the beginning of this experience little information is given so you can feel as “free” as possible and open to the unknown. This exhibit will go beyond verbal language to communicate with the viewer. The idea behind this project is to transcend the spoken/written language and created another form of communication through sensory and artistic experiences. Scent, touch, sound, movement, and visuals will be utilized for communicating beyond the spoken word. These bodily sensations will take you out of your head and into your body to pay attention to your movements, your senses, your feelings, the present. Moving in and out of the cerebral and into the somatic and haptic through art and technology.

This experience will take place outside the gallery/museum walls in a city park in the middle of Atlanta, GA with 8 participating artists; Peter Bahouth, Scott Houston, Stephanie Johnson, Arianna Khmelniuk, Stephanie Koziej, Becky Shanks, Bjørn Venø, and Blake Weeks.

We are all “paying attention” (in quotations) to an incredible array of information, while not giving one thing our full attention. To really pay attention, one needs to be fully present and mindful. When we pay attention in a mindful way, the experience has the potential to move into our long-term memory. For example, neuroscience research at the Massachusetts’s Peabody Essex Museum shows that the more emotionally arousing the exhibit, the more impact the exhibit has on the viewer. This research coupled in the arena of art is incredibly important to show how art and one’s interaction with art can transcend into one’s psyche communicating a lasting memory. Art can communicate such depth, which goes beyond the dominant verbal language that we are immersed with in our daily lives.

sensory landscape is a designated walking path with 8 installations, which leads to a collective experience at the end. This exhibit encourages visitors to slow down and lean into the unknown.

Artists in order of appearance: